The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-25)

A16 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 , 2022

BY MIN JOO KIM AND

MICHELLE YE HEE LEE

seoul — President Biden was

about to take off from Seoul to

Tokyo during his first Asia trip as

president, when a reporter asked

if he had a message for North

Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Biden’s succinct reply? “Hello. Pe-

riod.”

His two-word answer stood in

stark contrast with former presi-

dent Donald Trump’s active pur-

suit of engagement with the

North Korean leader. While

Trump met with Kim three times

and boasted friendly ties through

“love letters,” Biden has taken a

decidedly different approach,

saying he would not meet with

Kim unless he is “sincere” and

“serious.”

North Korea has been barrel-

ing forward with its weapons

program, with tests of three bal-

listic missiles early Wednesday

hours after Biden left the region.

The country has retreated ever

inward during the coronavirus

pandemic and is now confronting

its first covid-related public

health crisis. Yet the prospect for

reengaging North Korea remains

further out of reach than ever.

During his Asia trip, which

began in South Korea on Friday,

Biden sought to strengthen rela-

tionships with allies in the region.

On North Korea, that means the

United States and South Korea —

which has a new conservative

leader who is skeptical of its

northern neighbor — hope to

work more closely to show they

are prepared to deal with Kim’s

missile threats. They are leaving

the door open to dialogue with

North Korea but are in no rush to

force a breakthrough.

For many North Korea watch-

ers, the Biden administration’s

approach is reminiscent of the

Obama era’s “strategic patience,”

which consisted of waiting for

North Korea to change and avoid-

ing actions that would intention-

ally escalate tensions.

“The Biden administration’s

inaction toward North Korea in-

creasingly looks like the so-called

strategic patience 2.0 o r even a

strategic negligence,” said Park

Won-gon, professor of North Ko-

rean Studies at Ewha Womans

University in Seoul. “It has been

clear that President Biden has

little confidence in Kim Jong Un.”

On Saturday, during Biden’s

first summit with newly elected

South Korean President Yoon

Suk-yeol, the two countries

agreed to consider expanding the

joint military exercises in re-

sponse to the threat from North

Korea — an activity that has long

angered the reclusive nation.

Trump had pledged to cancel the

allied military exercises, calling

them “war games” that are “pro-

vocative” and “expensive.”

“The president’s message to

Kim while in Seoul — a simple

‘hello’ — left no room for misin-

terpretation. Brevity is the soul of

wit, and in Biden’s case, one

simple word conveyed his senti-

ments toward the DPRK leader

and his behavior,” said Soo Kim, a

North Korea expert at Rand Corp.

in Washington, using the acro-

nym for North Korea’s official

name.

“It’s possible that the adminis-

tration has opted for this position

similar to ‘strategic ambiguity’ to

convey to Kim that the U.S. will

not be shaken up by his provoca-

tions,” she said. “The ambiguity in

discerning what the U.S. is think-

ing or considering as options for

dealing with North Korea might

be unnerving for Kim.”

The range of messages Biden

sent during his trip, including

offering coronavirus aid and ex-

panding allied military drills,

demonstrated the balance in the

president’s approach, according

to the administration. Biden

sought to show how the United

States will work with its allies to

provide deterrence on North Ko-

rea and “to make very clear that

we’ll respond decisively to any

threats and any aggression,” State

Department spokesman Ned

Price said Friday.

But North Korea has not re-

sponded to any offers of aid,

whether directly by Seoul or indi-

rectly by Washington. It also has

not reacted to Biden’s vows to

step up nuclear deterrence. How-

ever, it conducted three long-

range ballistic missile tests, in-

cluding one suspected interconti-

nental ballistic missile, hours af-

ter he flew out of Tokyo as

Washington and Seoul predicted

could take place around the time

of Biden’s trip to the region.

Instead, North Korea claimed

this week that it was resolving its

outbreak of “fever” patients on its

own, citing decreasing numbers

of suspected covid cases.

Meanwhile, North Korea con-

tinues to build its nuclear-

capable weapons arsenal while

emphasizing its policy of “self-

reliance.” Its borders have re-

mained shut for more than two

years, despite the economic and

humanitarian turmoil that is

brewing inside the country be-

cause of it. It is unclear when Kim

would engage again with the out-

side world — or what it would

take to get him there.

Despite unfavorable situations

in the country, including the coro-

navirus crisis, K im is unlikely to

change course on his military

pursuits, said Ryu Hyun-woo,

North Korea’s former acting am-

bassador to Kuwait who defected

to South Korea in 2019.

“Kim Jong Un sees nuclear and

missile development as a way to

boost internal unity,” Ryu said. “It

means he will not turn away from,

but hold onto nuclear pursuits in

face of difficult challenges.”

Lee reported from Tokyo.

Biden’s visit to Asia showcases

hardened North Korea approach

Administration’s stance

reminiscent of O bama’s

‘strategic patience’

BY CLEVE R. WOOTSON JR.,

SEUNG MIN KIM AND

MICHELLE YE HEE LEE

TOKYO — President Biden
stressed Tuesday that his policy
toward Taiwan had not changed,
one day after forcefully pledging
— as he has done before — that
the United States would defend
the island if it came under assault
by neighboring China.
At a meeting here of leaders
from the United States, India,
Australia and Japan, Biden was
asked to elaborate on his un-
equivocal remarks that were an
apparent change to long-stand-
ing U.S. policy of deliberately
staying unclear about what it
would do in such a scenario, a
principle known as “strategic am-
biguity.”
Asked Tuesday whether that
policy was dead, Biden respond-
ed: “No.” He emphasized that
position again when asked
whether he would send U.S.
troops to the self-governing is-
land if China invaded.
“The policy has not changed at
all,” Biden said. “I stated that
when I made my statement yes-
terday.”
Both the president and a
White House official had said
Monday that Biden’s remarks did
not represent a shift in U.S.
policy, despite provoking im-
mediate uproar from Beijing.
This precise scenario — in which
Biden promises to defend Taiwan
militarily and his aides attempt
to clarify — has played out before,
such as during a CNN forum in
October.
His comments Tuesday came
during a meeting of the Quad, a
partnership of influential Indo-

Pacific democracies widely seen

as a counterweight to China. The

four nations came together in

2004 for relief efforts following

the devastating Indian Ocean

earthquake and tsunami and

have met sporadically since, al-

though the Biden administration

has elevated the group’s impor-

tance.

After meeting jointly with the

three other Quad leaders, Biden

talked separately with Narendra

Modi, the Indian prime minister,

in a potentially complicated sit-

down. India remains one of the

most powerful outliers among

the world’s largest democracies

that have declined to condemn

Russia for its invasion of

Ukraine.

India has repeatedly refused to

criticize Russia at venues includ-

ing the United Nations, to the

deep frustration of the Biden

administration and other West-

ern governments. Biden pointed

to that awkwardness in March,

noting that India was “somewhat

shaky” on Russia, while others in

the Quad had been “extremely

strong” in denouncing Russian

President Vladimir Putin’s ag-

gression.

The Asian giant holds deep

historical and strategic ties with

Moscow, a friend reaching back

to the Cold War. India’s military

has purchased 85 percent of its

existing weaponry from Russia,

according to the Washington-

based Stimson Center think tank.

Some of India’s largest interna-

tional investments involve Rus-

sian state-owned oil and gas

firms, and since the start of the

war this year, India has increased

its imports of Russian oil.

In response to Western criti-

cism, Indian officials have argued

that they need to prioritize the

country’s energy security and

have pointed to Germany’s con-

tinued dependence on Russian

gas.

On Tuesday, shortly before he

met with Modi behind closed

doors, Biden said the two men

would discuss the “ongoing ef-

fects of Russia’s brutal and unjus-

tified invasion of Ukraine and the

effect it has on the entire global

world order.”

“The U.S. and India are going

to continue consulting closely on

how to mitigate these negative

effects,” Biden said. Speaking

through an interpreter just after

the U.S. president, Modi did not

mention Russia in his brief open-

ing comments.

Later, a White House readout

of the meeting said only that

Biden “condemned Russia’s un-

justifiable war against Ukraine,”

although the two leaders jointly

pledged to work on matters of

humanitarian aid and rising en-

ergy and food prices. India’s read-

out of the meeting made no

mention of Russia.

Earlier Tuesday, a senior ad-

ministration official, speaking on

the condition of anonymity to

brief reporters, said Biden is

aware India has “its own views”

on Russia, and “the idea is to

build on the commonalities.”

Other leaders in the Quad, too,

carefully danced around the dif-

fering views toward Russia.

In a news conference Tuesday,

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio

Kishida said it was “only natural”

for each country to weigh their

own relationships when asked

about India’s neutral stance

toward Russian aggression.

Kishida said despite the differ-

ences, the Quad members agree

that cooperating on an array of

regional matters is important.

“In an international situation,

each country has its own histori-

cal developments as well as geo-

graphical situations. So even

amongst like-minded countries,

their positions may not agree

fully,” Kishida said. “That is only

natural.”

Gerry Shih in New Delhi contributed

to this report.

Despite remarks, Biden insists China policy unchanged

YUICHI YAMAZAKI/POOL/REUTERS

From left, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, President Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime

Minister Narendra Modi attend a Tokyo meeting of the Quad, a partnership of influential Indo-Pacific democracies.

Pledge to defend

Taiwan sparks uproar

from Beijing

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